UNCORRECTED PROOF Please cite this article in press as: Wolff FH, et al., Risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in individuals infected with the HIV, Dig Liver Dis (2007), doi:10.1016/j.dld.2007.11.010 ARTICLE IN PRESS YDLD 1184 1–8 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Digestive and Liver Disease xxx (2007) xxx–xxx Leading Article Risk factors for hepatitis C virus infection in individuals infected with the HIV 3 4 F.H. Wolff a,b,∗ , S.C. Fuchs a,b , N.T. Barcellos b,c , M. Falavigna d , M. Cohen e , A.B.M. Brand˜ ao a,f , F.D. Fuchs a 5 6 a Post-Graduate Program in Medical Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil Q1 7 b Post-Graduate Program in Epidemiology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 8 c Therapeutic Attention Service, Sanat´ orio Partenon Hospital, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 9 d School of Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 10 e Centre for AIDS Studies of Rio Grande do Sul (Centro de Estudos em AIDS do Rio Grande do Sul – CEARGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 11 f Federal Faculty Foundation for Medical Sciences of Porto Alegre (Funda¸ c˜ ao Faculdade Federal de Ciˆ encias M´ edicas de Porto Alegre), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil 12 13 Received 9 July 2007; accepted 7 November 2007 14 Abstract 15 Background. Except for injecting drug use, other routes of transmission for hepatitis C virus among human immunodeficiency Q2 virus–acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients have not been consistently described, and risk estimates are often not adjusted for confounding factors. 16 17 18 Aims. To evaluate characteristics associated with hepatitis C virus infection in individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. 19 20 Patients. Cases were patients co-infected by human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus, and controls were infected only by human immunodeficiency virus. 21 22 Methods. Cases and controls were consecutively enrolled at a public health care outpatient human immunodeficiency virus–acquired immune deficiency syndrome reference centre in Porto Alegre, Southern Brazil. 23 24 Results. A total of 227 cases (63% men; 40.3 ± 8.7 years) and 370 controls (44.6% men; 38.9 ± 9.8 years) were enrolled in the study. In a multiple logistic regression model, male gender (odds ratio 1.9; 95% confidence interval 1.3–2.7), age between 30 and 49 years (odds ratio 2.1; 95% confidence interval 1.2–3.7), elementary school education (odds ratio 4.2; 95% confidence interval 1.9–9.6), lower family income (odds ratio 1.7; 95% confidence interval 1.1–2.7), sharing personal hygiene objects (odds ratio 2.0; 95% confidence interval 1.3–3.3), using injected drugs (odds ratio 21.6; 95% confidence interval 10.8–43.0) and crack cocaine (odds ratio 2.8; 95% confidence interval 1.1–6.9) were independently associated with co-infection by hepatitis C virus. 25 26 27 28 29 30 Conclusion. These results confirm the risk profile for hepatitis C virus–human immunodeficiency virus infection and suggest that sharing personal hygiene objects might explain the transmission of virus C to those not infected by the usual routes, which may be of relevance for developing preventive strategies. 31 32 33 © 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. 34 Keywords: Co-infection; HIV; HCV; Risk factors 35 36 ∗ Corresponding author at: Rua Dr. Freire Alem˜ ao, 351/703, 90450-060 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Tel.: +55 51 3029 6136/9249 0979; fax: +55 51 3311 1422. E-mail address: fhwolff@terra.com.br (F.H. Wolff). 1. Introduction 37 About 34–46 million people worldwide are infected with 38 the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and 4–5 million 39 are co-infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) [1]. The 40 prevalence of HIV–HCV co-infection is directly associated 41 1 1590-8658/$30 © 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. 2 doi:10.1016/j.dld.2007.11.010